As The Station Turns 6/28

I'm getting ready for work and my phone starts ringing, oh gawd, what now. The Late Guy was calling because he's pretty sure one of his fuel tanks is at the point where it's too low to pump but he can't tell which one. He wanted to know which pumps were hooked up to which tank but I have no idea, I never knew when I was over there. And if he's out of fuel that means I'm gonna get mobbed this afternoon. I'm also pretty sure one of the tanks isn't hooked up to anything anymore. Later when I was at work I saw the truck show up so that situation was resolved.

It was another pre holiday weekend and the place was mobbed. Mrs. Late Guy wasn't happy about not getting to the trash and bagging ice so she ran around and did that before she left. No matter how many times I tell her it doesn't matter and I'll get to it later she still insists on doing it. Oh well, at least one person has a work ethic.

The Weekend Guy had to work the graveyard shift and I guess he was still pissed when he left in the morning. I wonder how Bigfoot handled it because The Weekend Guy is a grouch normally. I'd ask but I haven't seen Bigfoot in two weeks, people assure me he exists and I see signs that he was there but if I ran into him outside of work I'd have no idea who he was. 

Also, and boy did I laugh, The Weekend Guy usually runs the West Side Station on Sunday morning but he had just worked all night, so the Boss had the Part Time Woman do it. She hates working over there. And the bonus, she hates working Sundays. Also I guess she had plans for a quick Colorado trip and she had to cancel it. I know liking all that is bad Karma but it's also good Schadenfreude so the universe balances out.

Pump 5 is still not working right, it won't authorize for people to pump. I decided I had enough complaining for the day so I bagged it out of order. At the end of the night I took the bag off because the owners hate when employees make decisions. Also pump 7 keeps rejecting cards so I marked it "please prepay inside" and again, at the end of the night I took the sign off. I don't want to prevent angry customers from shouting at the other shifts.

The Potentially Unstable guy came in today and it was good for me. One night he asked for a jump start and I told him it wasn't my Jeep parked out back, even though he probably recognized it. If his cheese does slip off the cracker I had made myself a target. Well today I brought the Bad Hawg and he showed up. I was at work and no Jeep supporting my story that I had walked that day and the car wasn't mine. Once again I think I'm safe and worried about the people who work at the Conoco.

A couple of guys were wandering around the store, and seemed to be a bit on the suspicious side. I was trying to keep an eye on them while not being seen watching them. Then I realized what was really going on, they are a Gay couple and trying to hide it from the one guy's mother, who they are traveling with. I would love to be there when that secret leaks out. Unless it is mom walking in on them during a private moment.

My neighbor came by and wanted to know if I had an electric trike, I told her it was parked out back. It seems the night before she saw someone going through my mailbox and of course, it was me. I told her that all they would have gotten were the bills. I would think she would have seen me since I've been buzzing around on that thing for a while.

About midday I caught a break in the traffic and wanted to run outside for a quick trash check. Except there was a couple of people having a long discussion about the slushies. They're all the same, suspended sugar in flavored water, just pick one and Get Out! Naturally by the time they were done I was busy again. Freaking slushies.

When I did get a break I ran to check the restrooms, it looked like someone threw a ticker tape parade in there, again, it's a trash can, throw your trash in there! Also yesterday when I was leaving I noticed that the paper towels in the Ladies room were really low, perhaps four or five left. Today the roll was empty and there were no paper towels in trash. They ran out the night before and two shifts, 16 work hours and nobody replaced them. I need two days in a row off so someone else has to stock the stupid thing. 

It took me three trips to do the outside trash. I got the first bag out and a van full of two families showed up. The second two and the whole place filled up. Got the third one done including the restroom, was washing my hands and the next crowd showed up, I beat them by seconds.

Frankie The Cop came by for a soda, I don't charge him. He asked me about the last shoplifting incident and I told him I hadn't heard anything about it, so he told me the story. It seems some guy came walking through the store, grabbed a bottle of antifreeze off the shelf and ran out the back door, but Mrs. Late Guy saw him and called the cops. A short while later Frankie got a radio report that a suspicious individual was wandering around a motel parking lot with a hammer, when he showed up the guy was carrying the stolen antifreeze. When Frankie asked the guy his name he lied, asked a second time and he came up with a different name, so Frankie took him in and found the guy was wanted for a series of carjacking incidents in Colorado. The last time was he stole someone's car in Denver, crashed it in Colorado Springs, stole a second car and blew the radiator in my town. He stole the antifreeze in hopes of getting it running again but it was leaking everywhere. He was going to jump someone in the parking lot and threaten them with the hammer. Considering the area he's probably lucky he didn't end up shot.

A guy was asking if we had maps, sorry dude, not for about 5 years. I told him the only place to find them was on Amazon and then gave him directions to Dallas, "go East to Amarillo then head South East."

The deer were crossing the road and all the customers were really excited to see them that close. They asked if that was a common thing, heck I see them outside my back door every day.

The Graveyard Shift Guy showed up, he appears to have had a full recovery from being sick. Oh well, it didn't affect me this time. I'm sure I'm going to hear all about it when I go out for my Friday walk.